Elgin Seniors Can Add Strike To Memoirs

After several years of playing goalie on losing soccer teams at Larkin High School in Elgin, Sean Ronan was ready to end his varsity career on a winning note.

Team spirit was high at practice just before the start of the fall season, and with experienced players, the 17-year-old senior figured the Royals had a good shot at bringing home a championship.

But the Elgin teachers strike that dragged into its fourth week Monday has already canceled most of the games this season.

``Senior year is supposed to be special, something you remember for the rest of your life,`` he said. ``It`s going to be hard when I look back.``

As the strike continued, students throughout Unit District 46, especially juniors and seniors, expressed similar frustration over the prospect of missing out on school sports, winter and spring breaks and, especially, homecoming activities.

Students and parents, some of whom protested mostly against the teachers at their union meeting Monday, were reeling from the failure of yet another bargaining session, the latest of which broke off late Sunday night after 12 hours. A new session is scheduled for Tuesday morning.

The two sides are debating whether teachers should get the 8 percent raises the Elgin Teachers Association is holding out for or the 6 percent raises the district is offering. Whatever the outcome, students said they feel they will be the real losers in the battle.

``These teachers are dressed in nice clothes and are driving away in nice cars; they don`t need all that money,`` said Tracy Ramsay, 16, a student at Elgin High School.

``They`re ruining my whole junior year. Because of all this, I may not be able to go on vacation with my family this Christmas to Vermont,`` she said.

District officials could not reassure students about the school calendar, saying only that revisions will be made.

``It`s hard for us to say exactly how the calendar will be affected,``

said Robert Gilliam, the district`s chief negotiator. ``We`re looking at adjustments on the spring break, Christmas and the end of the year. We can`t say what.``

The effects of the strike are even spreading to nearby St. Charles, where St. Charles High School is scheduled to host Elgin High in a homecoming football game Friday night.

Students and administrators at St. Charles are expressing anxiety over the possibility that their game might be canceled.

``I don`t know if we`ll have a football game,`` said Wayne DeMaar, St. Charles` athletic director. ``We`re looking at two possible opponents, but I`m not sure if either will work out.``

Most Elgin students said their biggest concern goes beyond football: It`s that they are missing academic classes to prepare them for the American College Test and the Scholastic Aptitude Test.

As a result, they worry they will score lower on those exams, which colleges consider for both admission and financial aid.

``I`m concerned about getting a scholarship to go to a private Lutheran college,`` Ronan said. ``To get a scholarship, I have to score high on the ACT.``